Blogito ergo sum! Actually, as N.T. Wright averred, "'Amor, ergo sum:' I am loved, therefore I am." Among other things, I am a Roman Catholic deacon. This is a public cyberspace in which I seek to foster Christian discipleship in the late modern milieu in the diakonia of koinonia and in the recognition that "the Eucharist is the only place of resistance to annihilation of the human subject."

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Saturday, January 16, 2010

Judging

My dear friend Fran generated a discussion on Facebook this morning about judging, the problem of judging. On that topic, there is no more misused and abused passage of Scripture than Matthew 7:1 "Judge not, that you be not judged." Of course this is clipping, or proof-texting. In other words, it is an illegitimate and unreasonable way to apply Scripture. Let's look for some context: "For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye" (Matt. 7:2-5).

It is an indisputable article of Christian faith that you will be judged. Each Sunday and on solemnities we recite the Credo and say: "He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead..." Judging, one respondent wrote, is a condition of life; we have to judge. He is correct that judging is not the problem because it is an inevitability. So, what is the problem? We must concern ourselves with the criteria by which we judge. We must judge with compassion, with empathy, with sympathy. More importantly, we must judge according to the truth and in accord with all the factors that consitute reality (i.e., the world as it is and not as we wish it to be). It is right and good that we take comfort in scriptural reassurances, like "[a]bove all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins" (1 Peter 4:8). I don't know about you, but I am kind of counting on that! I have my heavenly defense all planned out: I am going to fall prostrate, as I do before the altar, along with my bishop, fellow deacons, and priests each Good Friday at the beginning of that moving celebration, and throw myself on the mercy of the court.

We have all heard and read the slogan- Hate the sin, love the sinner. This is certainly a defensible stance, but it should not be a defensive stance. I can judge an action as wrong without condemning the person who acts. Look at the case of Pat Robertson's pronouncement on why Haiti had an earthquake. It is an inaccurate and foolish. I don't believe it for one moment. That is a judgment I feel perfectly justified in making. I also think Rush Limbaugh's overly poiltical response utterly lacking in humanity, both for Pres. Obama and the people of Haiti. When Bill O'Reilly is raking you over the coals, as he did these guys last night, for a lack of compassion, you're in trouble!

Another friend, earlier in the week wrote that he was "convinced that if Jesus were to meet Pat Robertson, he would slap him upside the head." I am convinced of no such thing. I am convinced that if Jesus were to meet Pat Robertson, or Rush Limbaugh, He would look on them both with great compassion. Like me, every hair on their heads is numbered and they are both loved just as I am loved.

As Christians we are not called to live in the realm of abstraction, which results in a lot of useless hand-wringing. Asserting that we ought never to make judgments is pointless. Let's show this without getting too deeply into logic (reading a lot of W and David Stove these days): To call me judgmental is to judge. Conversely, to decide not to judge is also a judgment. In the words of that great Rush song, Freewill, "if you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice."

Dear Scott:Thank you for this important reminder that judgement belongs to Christ. Like you, I disagree with Rev. Pat Robertson's comments but I believe they arise from increasing senility. Whatever prompted them, it is the Lord's domain. I can only strive to be merciful and compassionate in my life as Jesus was in his. Surrendering ourselves to his love and care means daily striving to turn every area of our lives over to him, including the human tendancy to judge.God bless you Scott for encouraging us to align ourselve, with His love and care.In Christ,Deacon Greg Kirk

Thank you for your encouragement and kind words. However, lest what I posted be reduced to something banal it is important to point out that precisely because we follow Christ we must judge, just as it is an inevitability that we will be judged. Hence, I do not suggest leaving judgment to Christ. As I wrote, what is important when I judge, which is an inevitably of my life, is the manner in which I judge and the criteria by which I judge.

About Me

I am husband and Dad to six lovely children. I am also a Roman Catholic deacon of the Diocese of Salt Lake City. I married in 1993, became a Dad for the first time in 1994 and most recently in 2011 (quite a spread). I was was ordained in 2004. After serving for 11 years at The Cathedral of the Madeleine in Salt Lake City, I am now assigned to St Olaf's Parish in Bountiful, Utah. I am a graduate of the University of Utah and the Institute in Pastoral Ministry at St. Mary's University of Minnesota.

Madeleine Delbrêl

"We fashion the immortal being we are through our choices. Through our choices we bring the man in us to the fullness of life or to the worst of human suffering. At the hour of his death each human being has become either a person who will live with God forever, or who will be without God forever" Madeleine Delbrêl

St. Paul

"I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect" (Rom. 12:1-2)

Two men I greatly admire

BXVI w/ Abp Rowan

C.S. Lewis

“Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another: 'What! You too? I thought I was the only one'” Lewis